


The Naming of Things

by thebirdroads



Category: Torment: Tides of Numenera (Video Game)
Genre: Drabble, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-25
Updated: 2019-02-25
Packaged: 2019-11-05 08:57:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17915786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebirdroads/pseuds/thebirdroads
Summary: Everybody needs a name, don't they?





	The Naming of Things

“Hey,” says Rhin, looking up from her game of fetch with Oom as the group sits around their campfire in the Valley of Dead Heroes. “I just realized something. I don’t know what your name is!”

The Last Castoff blinks in surprise. “My...name?”

Rhin nods. “Yeah! I can’t keep calling you Castoff forever, right?”

“I can,” grumbles Aligern, his arms crossed. Rhin ignores him.

“I mean, don’t most Castoffs have names? Like Matkina.”

Matkina doesn’t look up from sharpening her dagger. 

“I chose that name myself, child. But yes, I do have a name.”

Rhin claps her hands. “Then it’s decided! We’re gonna help you pick out a name!” 

“I don’t know...how am I gonna choose? What can I choose?”

“Ooh! Ooh! It’s gotta be something-”

“Heroic?” drawls Matkina, cutting Erritis off midsentence, as she often does.

“Exactly, Mattie! We’re so in sync!”

“Ugh,” she groans, though she does not scold him for calling her Mattie, this time. 

“Well now, lad, what sort of names do you like? Tybir means ‘honesty’ in my mother’s tongue, which I’ve always found deliciously ironic. You should pick something that embodies yourself, no? You wouldn’t name yourself something like...Bastard, especially considering you’re quite the pleasant fellow. Oh, Erritis, you’re getting rather close to the fire there, lad.” 

Erritis, grinning as always, does a showy backflip out of harm’s way, taking a theatrical bow as he lands.

“Showoff,” Matkina mutters. 

“Um...well, when our sire was using this body, he went by Adahn? Should I use that?”

Aligern shakes his head.

“Look, kid, we’re not on the best of terms, I know, but I’ll tell you this right now: you’re a damn sight better than your bastard of a pa. You should use a name YOU choose, not one he chose for you. What sort of names speak to you?”

The Last Castoff ponders for a moment, finger on his chin. “Well, what about…”

Tybir, mercifully, comes to the rescue. “I knew a nice young lad once named Destefan. What do you think about that?”

Tybir’s suggestion prompts the others to start providing names of people they also knew once.

“What about Tycanti?”

“Knew a Zachika, once.”

“Hmm. Ajara.”

“Uh, back home I knew a boy named Kobol!”

The Last Castoff points at Rhin.

“That one! I like the sound of that one! Can we try out that one?”

Matkina rolls her eyes. “I’d scoff, but I admit I tried a few names on to see how they fit before I settled on Matkina. Seems like it’s a common thing for Castoffs. Kobol, is it?”

The Last Castoff nods. “Yeah, I think Kobol’s the one for now. We’ll see how I feel about it later.”

Rhin smiles. “Kobol...it reminds me of home. I like it!” 

The Last Castoff ruffles her hair.

“Well then, that settles it. Kobol it is. Now, who wants to take first watch?”

The Last Castoff, Kobol now, makes a show of pretending not to see Erritis jumping around, his hand shoved into the air, for as long as he thinks is funny, before he finally relents and lets the hero take first watch. The discovery in the alcove worries him, but a side benefit of Erritis never sleeping is that he is an extremely reliable watchman. As he drifts off to sleep, he rotates his new name in his mind. Kobol feels like it fits. And it’s not something his sire chose for him, either. He decided himself. He likes the feeling.

**Author's Note:**

> I just beat Tides of Numenera and I'm goddamn obsessed with it. Why are there more than three party members in this? Because I say so, that's why. Where's Callistege? Same place I left her my whole playthrough, back in Sagus Cliffs. Can Oom play fetch? I say it CAN!


End file.
